


Table Tennis

by ladyknightanka



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Humor, Innuendo, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-31
Updated: 2012-12-31
Packaged: 2017-11-23 03:33:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/617603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyknightanka/pseuds/ladyknightanka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony has no idea how, in one summer, scrawny Steve Rogers went from not to hot. Good thing Tony has an investigative mind...and is a table hog.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Table Tennis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [grlkat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/grlkat/gifts).



> Wrote this a while ago, but decided to stick it on AO3 today. Hope it's a fun read. :)

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Table Tennis

-

The first day of Tony's senior year whooshes by like it's wearing a jet-pack. It doesn't take long for the giggly new freshmen and transfer students to start whispering his name in the halls – quite reverentially, he likes to think. The school faculty sprung to have new lockers installed during the summer, and Tony's sure debonair pictures of him from last year's homecoming will soon start making their rounds. Next year, when he's in college, his prom pictures will probably do the same.  
  
All of these thoughts get him through every class but science, only because, twitchy and temperamental as Mr. Banner may be, Tony excels at science more than anything else, and honestly, the guy's pretty cool in a patchy-elbowed professor kind of way. _Everything else_ , he resists skipping merely to avoid being sent to creepy Principal Stane's office. Obadiah talks about what a good boy Tony can be a bit too much for Tony's comfort.  
  
Tony saunters out of science with Pepper's elbow hooked into his own, and his mindless drones – er, groupies – trailing at a safe distance. He nods acknowledgment at his friends Clint and Natasha, who are passing by, but his zen dissipates once he enters the cafeteria and finds two big, blond men at his table. _His table._  
  
“My table!” he exclaims, as he wildly gesticulates the arm not in Pepper's care toward the oblivious duo. “It's a _coup d'etat_ , Pep. They're staging a hostile takeover.”  
  
“Tony.” Pepper rolls her eyes. She's not like the cheer squad or the swim team – or any other team or squad or group or club or faction or party, _ad nauseam_. She has no patience for his B.S., and Tony doesn't want to sleep with her...too much. She's been his best friend forever, and even beat him out as student council president their sophomore year – although he tells her he let her win and gets slapped upside the head for his efforts. “It's school property, not yours,” she says, never mind how much money Howard Stark has donated to Stan Lee Art and Science Magnet School.  
  
Tony huffs, says, “I carved my name into it. It is _so_ mine,” then extracts himself from Pepper and stalks forward. “Excuse me–” he begins, upon reaching the crown of the table. Big Blond Interlopers One and Two halt their conspiratorial whispers to stare up at him, and Tony pauses. One of them has the most crisp, _gorgeous_ blue eyes he's ever had the pleasure to see. Tony props his elbows against the table, his face cradled in his palms, and stares openly. “Well, excuse me,” he says again, with a flirty grin now.  
  
“Tony Stark,” the gorgeous blond replies, tone flat as the fizzle-less soda on top of his tray.  
  
The bigger blond blinks and holds out a meaty hand. “Hello, Anthony Stark. I, Thor Odinson, have heard much about you.”  
  
“Uh, hi,” Tony says. He allows Thor to grip his hand – too tight – though what he actually wants to do is whine, “Pay attention to meeeee,” in the other blond's ear. “And what's your friend's name?” he asks Thor, whose fair eyebrows arch into his hairline in response.  
  
“You are not acquainted with Steve–” he starts to inquire, but he's cut off by Steve himself.  
  
“Steve _Rogers,_ ” he reminds Tony, his plush mouth tucking into a frown. “As in, the same Steve Rogers who's been in your art and gym classes the last two _years_ in a row.” Tony tries to click his jaw shut, but can't. Steve makes a little growl in the back of his throat and ignores Tony to tell Thor, “I've really gotta get going. ROTC practice. See ya later?”  
  
“Of course, Steve,” says Thor, a beam appended to his open and cheerful face. “I must away to meet my brother, as well. Loki is quite irked by our transfer from Denmark, I fear.”  
  
“Okay,” Steve agrees, apparently unfazed by his friend's oddness. The two of them rise in tandem. Steve shoulders past Tony to discard his lunch tray in a nearby trashcan.  
  
Tony watches him go, watches his muscles shift beneath snug jeans. “No way that's Steve Rogers,” he mutters to himself. “Steve's...well, he's just a scrawny little kid, the forever-freshman. I mean, cute, sure, but...”  
  
“At least you got your table back, right?” Pepper asks, but Tony continues to gawk after Steve. She follows his gaze, then says, “Tony, _no_. You've ignored the poor guy for the last two years. Tell me you aren't thinking what you're thinking?”  
  
Tony purses his lips and locks eyes with her. He feels so determined, his blood and bones are practically thrumming with it. He wonders if she can tell. “Pepper,” he says, lifting a determined fist, each syllable precise and enunciated, “I'm gonna get that boy. He will be _mine_.”  
  
Pepper groans and flops down onto a seat of their newly evacuated table. Tony would worry she'll resort to thunking her head on it – repeatedly, as she claims she wants to do every time Tony tops his previous annoying antic with a new one – were Peter Parker, an otherwise cute little freshman on the yearbook committee, not aiming his camera every which way of the cafeteria. Tony will already humiliate her – vicariously, because he feels no shame himself – so why let it be documented, too?  
  
Then again, Tony has better things to do right now than ponder over Pepper's honor or even his growling stomach. Operation Seduce Steve Rogers is a go.

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The End

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End file.
